


Its Always Been You

by Ceruleandeluxe



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Ending, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, idk man i'm sad, maybe less of a fix it more of a ruin it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 12:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20891852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceruleandeluxe/pseuds/Ceruleandeluxe
Summary: After the losers defeated Pennywise, the Neibolt street house began to crumble around them - but Richie won't leave.Alternate Ending where Richie refuses to leave Eddie's side.





	Its Always Been You

"I'm not leaving him." 

Bev held out her hand, her throat aching from trying to hold back tears. 

"Richie....honey....he's gone...we can't bring him through the house." she choked, her eyes glassy with tears. "We have to leave right now, I'm so sorry -" 

Richie looked up at her, his eyes blank behind his bloodstained glasses. "I meant what I said Bev, I'm not leaving him...I can't - not again....I'm staying with him." 

Ben's voice called from behind them, where he stood with Mike and Bill. "Bev, Richie, please we really need to go, we won't make it out!" 

Bev looked at him over her shoulder and then turned back towards her best friend lying on the floor, his hands cradling Eddie's pallid face. 

"You really loved him." 

"I still do. I always have, and always will. I never got to tell him Bev, that's why I have to stay." 

She held out her hand to her best friend. "Please Rich -" 

He met her eyes and shook his head, tears spilling from under the heavy frames of his glasses. "I love you Bevvie." he choked out. "Please you have to go now, quickly. I love you." 

She turned away from him as he leaned in to Eddie's pale frame. He looked so small gently cradled in Richie's arms. As she ran towards Ben, the house began to shake, rocks beginning to crumble around them. She took one last look at Richie, and smiled sadly, her stomach wrenching with grief as she ran from Pennywise's lair. 

Richie pulled Eddie closer to him, the smaller man's body cold to his touch. 

"It's okay Eds, I'm here. You're not alone don't worry. You don't have to be alone ever again." He whispered into Eddie's dark hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead, the same furrow of worry he had since their childhood present on his brow. "Remember when we would go to the quarry with the rest of the losers, and you'd be to scared to jump off so we would do it together? This is just like that, Eddie Spaghetti. You don't have to do it alone. Things like that are a lot less scary when you have someone who loves you right there with you." 

Richie pulled his jacket over Eddie's stomach, covering his wound. "There you go Eds. It's covered now. Might stop so many germs getting in. I know you would hate that. I never got to tell you about the kissing bridge Eds. I carved our initials there back when we were kids. I always wondered if you saw it, maybe you knew. Maybe you even felt the same at some point. It's always been you for me. I never got to tell you. But it's always been you. I love you, Eddie Kaspbrak -" 

\------------------------------------------

Bev's face was raw and red from wiping away her tears with the rough material of her shirt. Ben held her in his arms, running his hands through her firey hair. As the final beam of 29 Neibolt Street descended into rubble, she fell to the ground, her bruised and bloodstained body wracked with sobs. She felt Mike's hand gently wrap around her arms and lift her to her feet. He pulled her into a hug, and the rest of the losers joined, all silent as tears slid down their faces. As they walked from the rubble of the house, Ben slipped his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. She looked at him and he met her gaze.   
"It'll be okay, Bev," he he said, his thumb running along the back of her hand. "They're together. Like they always have been."   
\------------------------------------------

Three days later, the losers club returned to 29 Neibolt Street. There was no sign anything happened - no ruins, no wreckage, no rubble. It was as if there never was a 29 Neibolt Street - and maybe there never was. Strange things happened in Derry, and the losers knew that all too well. All that stood was a small wildflower meadow, with a crumbled well in the centre, one that looked just like the well in the house. 

The losers stood on the edge of the meadow, Bev's hand entwined in Ben's, Mike's arm around Bill's shoulder.   
Bev dropped Ben's hand and stepped forward. She reached into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a blue piece of plastic. An inhaler. She laid it by the edge of the meadow. One by one the losers stepped forward and laid down a token they brought - an arcade chip, the broken paddle ball, a scrap of fabric from one of Richie's hawaiian shirts. As they stood together at the edge of the meadow, they laughed about all of Richie and Eddie's constant bickering. As the sun began to set, the losers started to turn away from the Neibolt Street house, Mike stopped suddenly in his tracks. 

"I nearly forgot," Mike said, rummaging in his wallet. "One last thing." 

Mike pulled out a black and white photo strip from that 1989 summer, all the losers crowded into the tiny arcade photobooth. He laid it between the inhaler and the arcade chip. "Rest easy, guys. Try not to fight too much. Stan shouldn't have to spend all his time stopping you two being assholes up there too." 

As the losers walked back to the inn, they crossed the kissing bridge. Despite walking this bridge so many times in his life, this time felt different for Bill. Something had caught his eye. He stopped and examined the carving. R + E.   
"Hey," he called to the other losers, who had continued walking ahead. "Come check this out."   
Beverly ran her fingers over the faded carving, her touch lingering on the roughly scrawled R. "Do you reckon this was them?"   
Bill thought for a moment, then shook his head, the silver in his hair glinting in the sunset. "No I wouldn't say so. I'd sure like to think it was though."   
"So would I Bill, so would I." 

And with those words the losers walked over the kissing bridge, and away from Derry for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> hi so this is my first fic i'm sorry if it's not very good but i just have a lot of feelings


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